1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to technology for wiping ink or other fluid accretions from the nozzle face of a fluid ejection head.
2. Related Art
Inkjet printers are one type of fluid ejection device having a fluid ejection head for ejecting ink or other fluid. Ink and foreign matter such as paper dust may accrete on the nozzle face of the inkjet head (fluid ejection head) in an inkjet printer. One method of the related art used to prevent problems caused by such accretions is to wipe the nozzle face with the edge of a wiper blade made from rubber or other elastic material and remove the accretions.
JP-A-2001-30507 describes a device having a wiper for each nozzle head in an inkjet printer having four nozzle heads that eject different colors of ink. Each wiper is mounted on a wiper carrier, and a wiper moving means is provided for each wiper carrier. Each wiper moving means can be driven independently. The nozzle heads that need wiping can therefore be wiped selectively.
JP-A-2011-104979 describes an inkjet printer having a wiper unit. In addition to a wiper, the wiper unit described in JP-A-2011-104979 has a wiper cleaner for cleaning the wiper. The wiper unit has a maintenance unit motor as a drive source, and moves the wiper and wiper cleaner in conjunction with each other by means of a cam mechanism. More specifically, the wiper is cleaned once before wiping the nozzle face because the wiper rises while sliding in contact with the wiper cleaner. Furthermore, because the wiper cleaner moves vertically after the wiping operation, the wiper is cleaned twice.
JP-A-2011-104979 teaches a wiper unit having a wiper cleaner for removing ink and other accretions from the wiper, and uses a single motor to move the wiper cleaner and the wiper. However, because both the wiper and the wiper cleaner move vertically, the wiper cleaner may not be able to reliably remove ink and other accretions from the wiper. JP-A-2011-104979 is also silent about processing the ink and other accretions transferred to the wiper cleaner, and the wiping ability of the wiper cleaner and wiper may be impaired. The ink and other accretions transferred to the wiper cleaner may also be transferred back to the wiper.
To selectively wipe the plural head units (nozzle heads), the wiper unit disclosed in JP-A-2001-30507 drives each wiper with an individual moving means to wipe. However, a configuration having an actuator for each wiper has many parts, is structurally complex, and is difficult to reduce in size. Furthermore, to move a wiper cleaner in addition to the wiper as described in JP-A-2011-104979, the construction becomes even more complex and achieving a compact configuration is even more difficult.